Wearable technology has quickly gained in popularity as more individuals prioritize maintaining physical fitness and monitoring their health. Miniaturized circuitry, advanced batteries and high-speed connectivity are driving innovations in this field.
Sensor-embedded skin patches have revolutionized remote patient monitoring by offering an effective yet non-invasive solution. Other innovations include clothing with built-in sensors or e-textiles which integrate electronics into fabric for sensing or communication purposes.
Stretchable Artificial Skin
Researchers have long dreamed of developing electronic skin to give prosthetic limbs the sense of touch. Over the years, soft materials that mimic mechanoreceptors in human skin and can produce nerve-like signals have been developed.
For their durable material, the team targeted biocompatible and stretchable polymers as a foundation. After conducting several trials, siloxane emerged as the winner – it can withstand stretching to over 180% before returning back into shape, which is comparable to real skin which can sustain up to 2500% stretch without breaking.
The team used their e-skin to build inflatable sensors and grippers. Tests demonstrated that these grippers stayed firm after inflating, grasping objects without breaking them, matching real skin’s sensitivity levels accurately while also being capable of capturing pulse waveforms with great accuracy. Currently they’re collaborating with robotics companies in order to bring this product to market.
Smart Clothing
Printed electronics like biometric sensors can now be integrated directly into fabrics for easy wearability and washing, providing real-time collection, storage and transmission without the need for wearable devices or wires. These e-textiles offer stretchability, breasureability and washability – perfect for data collection without bulky devices or wires!
Smart clothing equipped with embedded sensors enable people to monitor their surroundings, such as construction workers who must remain wary for falling objects or any signs of distress. Furthermore, vital signs can also be monitored such as heart and breathing rates or muscle activity levels.
Smart clothing is an incredibly flexible technology. A smart medical shirt can monitor blood pressure while military uniforms may feature sensors to detect gunshot wounds. The future for this tech is bright with potential uses spanning fitness and virtual reality applications of smart apparel expected to skyrocket by 2024 due to an increasing demand for products that connect our physical lives to virtual ones.
Wearable Cameras
Wearable cameras allow users to capture photos and videos from new angles. Furthermore, these devices can live stream their experiences directly online in real-time. Users have many choices available when it comes to body-mounted cameras, head-mounted cameras (such as helmets), as well as camera lenses embedded into eyewear.
Automated wearable cameras can play an invaluable role in research on human behaviors by providing accurate and objective insight into daily experiences. But these cameras also present unique privacy-related challenges; images captured may contain sensitive or potentially identifying data about participants or third parties that cannot be safely erased from its memory card.
Wearable cameras can help alleviate these privacy-related concerns by minimizing physical inconvenience and discomfort, while researchers can minimize risks by only activating cameras when providing meaningful data about a behavior. Their location and lens orientation also have an effect on perceived affordances that influence social presence or stigmatism.
AR Eyewear
Augmented reality (AR) glasses are wearable technology that overlay digital information over an individual’s view of reality, providing businesses and consumers with an effective solution.
AR smart glasses use computer vision and natural language processing technologies to detect objects and scenes within their environment, enabling apps to display virtual creations that seamlessly blend in. Home design AR apps enable users to visualize how furniture will look within their space.
Hoya is developing lenses with automatic focus technology to save you from moving your head back and forth; additionally they’re working on mini solar power technology that could charge their lenses without batteries being required for charging purposes.
These technological innovations are creating the potential for wearable devices that can monitor everything from glaucoma symptoms to blood sugar levels, potentially including smart contact lenses that wirelessly sync with an app on a phone and offer instantaneous feedback on performance or provide personalized advice.
